The Awareness Center closed. We operated from April 30, 1999 - April 30, 2014. This site is being provided for educational & historical purposes.
We were the international Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault (JCASA); and were dedicated to ending sexual violence in Jewish communities globally. We did our best to operate as the make a wish foundation for Jewish survivors of sex crimes. In the past we offered a clearinghouse of information, resources, support and advocacy.

Thursday, September 28, 2000

Between God and the world of nature lies a bridge called the "occult". Crossing it is fraught with danger and a slip-up means falling into the abyss of idolatry.

Most children are thrilled by stories of witches and devils, Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. In an otherwise dry and rational world, those mysterious forces add an element of fun and excitement and stir the imagination. They allow a youngster to feel that there is a way to beat a merciless and insensitive system.

Born poor through no fault of your own? No problem -- a wonderful fairy will come to your doorstep and give you the fortune you so longed for. A bully is tormenting you mercilessly? A spell will be cast and he will become a squirrel for the rest of his life.

The Blair Witch Project films give teenagers a momentary shot of excitement and dread, and an ominous whiff that maybe there really is something lurking out there.

THREE GENERAL APPROACHESWhen a person matures, three general approaches towards the occult and other outside forces begin to emerge.

There are the serious, rational mindsets who laugh it all off. For them the world is rational, quantifiable and anything else is utter rubbish.

There is a second group of people, who tend to be spiritual, artistic, poetic, etc. They sense the world has a spiritual dimension to it, and that there are all sorts of forces and mysteries that reason can't comprehend. Theirs is a world of tea-leaf readings, tarot cards, crystal balls and psychic predictions.

Then there are those very deeply religious people, whose worldview is that of a great battle between the two forces in the world -- good and evil. The captain of the good team is God, assisted by a host of angels, saints, martyrs, etc. The captain of the bad team is the devil, assisted by demons, evil spirits and politicians. Their world is particularly threatened by the likes of Harry Potter books, due to a large degree to the severity with which witchcraft is dealt with in the Bible.

NOT JEWISHNone of these three general approaches are in keeping with Judaism. What is the Torah perspective regarding witchcraft?

The Torah takes a very negative attitude towards witchcraft in its various formats, such as:

"A sorcerer shall not be allowed to live." (Exodus 22:17)

"For you are coming into a land that God is granting to you; do not learn the ways of the abominations of the native people. There shall not be found amongst you ... a sorcerer, soothsayer or engager of witchcraft ... or one who calls up the dead. For it is an abomination before God, and it is on account of these abominations that God is giving you their land." (Deut. 18:9-12)

But why? What is the problem with it?

The so-called "devil vs. God" approach is an anathema to Judaism because of the whiff of dualism inherent in it. God is One, and only One. He acts in many different ways, but there are no "two" armies in the full sense of the word.

Judaism does speak of the "Satan/devil," but it sees Satan as an agent of God, testing the sincerity of man's deeds, the strength of his convictions, and the stamina of his moral fiber. Although this so-called devil seems to entice man to do wrong, he is not inherently an evil being. Rather, he is conducting a "sting" operation; overtly enticing to bad, but in reality working for God. A cursory reading of the beginning of Job conveys that message: God sends out Satan to test Job's righteousness.

Just as a dentist or doctor tests the firmness of a bone or flesh by probing it, just as the army tests the integrity and trustworthiness of its intelligence agents by tempting them, so too does God test man. A test reveals the inner worthiness of a person's deeds, demonstrating what they are really made of.

So, if magic and occult do exist, why are they so evil?

GOOD MAGIC, BAD MAGICWe also find mention of many types of "good magic" in the Talmudic sources, such as blessings, amulets etc. How do we distinguish between the two types of spiritual forces?

The perspective most widely used is that of the Nachmanides, the great 12th century thinker. We will try to adapt and explain his perspective.

Although God was the sole creator of the universe, He created an autonomous system of "nature" that serves as an intermediate layer between God and man.

The system of nature is self-contained and has its laws and its causes and effects. Being that one can use this system without immediate recourse to God, it allows for a sort of atheism. It is easy to think that the system runs on its own, independent from God. Gravity, inertia, electro-magnetism etc. all work whether the person is a sinner or a saint. A person who buys into the phenomena of nature, without bothering to ask himself about their cause, nor being sensitive to God's manipulation of natural events, is misled by the system into disbelief in God.

Between God and this world of nature lies another bridge, which we shall call the "occult" or the quasi-spiritual. It has the ability to change and bend the rules of nature, through miracles, magic, etc. But this quasi-spiritual world, although it is more elevated than nature per se, is still not the Divine. It has its rules and laws of operation, and is perhaps more powerful than the physical world, but certainly not omnipotent.

Are we to make use of this world in the way which we are bidden to make use of the physical world?

Nachmanides says that generally speaking God does not desire that we make use of this world. God had intended for us to come to awareness of Him within the natural world, and through its phenomena. Someone who subverts the system of nature, by constantly using the supernatural world, is going against the will of God.

In those instances where holy people have used forces above nature, they've always emphasized the fact that the miracles thus generated only demonstrated God's omnipotence to override natural phenomena. This is similar to (though certainly not the same as) the miracles that God performed for Israel in Egypt with the aim of establishing certain Divine truths. When a righteous person occasionally uses Divine intervention, it bolsters those great truths.

DANGER OF WRONG-DOINGIt is at this point that the danger of real wrongdoing exists. A person who has realized that the laws of nature onto themselves are insufficient to explain the world, has tapped into this more spiritual world and come upon a melange of all sorts of "spiritual beings." If he understands they are agents of God, this becomes a true spiritual experience. But if he mistakenly understands them to be independent of God, then he engages in idol-worship! These forces then become a source for evil when they are viewed as an alternative power to God.

Perhaps the best illustration for this dual approach is inherent in the story of the "copper snake":

And the people spoke ill of God and Moses ... and God sent against them the burning serpents and they bit the people, and many people died ... and God told Moses: "Shape a snake [out of copper] and place it on a stick, and whoever was bitten will look at it and live." Moses then made a snake of copper and put it on a stick, and if a person was bitten by a snake, he would look at the copper snake and live. (Numbers 21:4-9)

The Mishna (Rosh Hashana 29a) puts this into perspective:

Did the serpent heal or kill? Rather, when Israel looked up heavenward, and dedicated their hearts to their Heavenly Father [they would be healed], and when not, they would waste away.

Here we have both facets of the supernatural: At first, the miraculous nature of the snake caused people to realize that the plague was God's doing, and they worked on bettering themselves. In this vein it was a positive spiritual experience.

But later things disintegrated and instead of the snake being a means to recognizing God, it became a focal point in itself, i.e. the wonderful healing snake -- separate from God's power. That is idolatry. For this reason, many hundreds of years later, King Hezekiah had this copper snake destroyed because people turned it into an idol!

UNDERSTANDING IDOL WORSHIPIdol worship is the perception that there are many forces with various powers over mankind and perhaps even over God. The idolater thinks that he can use these "powers" against God if he only knew how to wrest them away from God.

It's as if God's power were vested in a gun He holds in His hand. The idolater thinks that if could only wrest the gun from God, then he'd wield that power. He equates the spells of witchcraft with the ability to overpower God.

The prime example of this thinking is the evil prophet Bilaam, who is called a sorcerer by the Torah. He was a person very knowledgeable in this area of the universe. He kept scheming to use the world of magic against God. He thought he understood the mind of God and that with enough powerful manipulation, he would be able to outfox Him!

In a sense, this is the worst form of idolatry possible. On the one hand, the person is onto something "real." It is not a weird looking rock that a primitive mind has fantasized into a god. Rather, it is a power that works. Yet, it is utterly false, because nothing is independent of God.

For us, the litmus test of "spirituality" is morality. Any form of "spirituality" that makes no moral demands on a human being, that does not seek to bring him closer to God, or bring out the Divine potential of man, is bogus or evil spirituality.

If a person practices "occult rites" and the content thereof is a mumble of strange words, bizarre costumes, or strange rites, it is either bogus or evil. It usually is bogus, but in those cases that he has tapped into these powers, it is evil for he has divorced it from God.

The great rabbis who performed supernatural acts, were using them to bring home a message about God. They enjoined people to recognize the Creator, develop their character, be kind to others, be honest and faithful, reign in their drives, etc. Understood in the larger context of God, Torah and morality, these unusual miracles were indeed Divine revelations.

_______________________________________________________________________________A Community's Shameful Silence
Two women are working to get Orthodox rabbis
to do more to inform and educate the public about child sexual abuse
By Joseph Aaron and Golda Shira
Chicago Jewish News - Jan. 28 - Feb. 3, 2000 (page
16 - 19)

The Awareness Center would like to thank Joseph
Aaron (editor Chicago Jewish News) and Golda Shira for researching and
printing the following article. It was, and still is an extremely
controversial issue. But a story that needs to be addressed. Both Joseph
and Golda are heroes for NOT keeping the silence.

It is a story more than 30 years old.

A story few wish to talk about and even fewer wish
to hear about; a story of children being sexually abused by respected members
of the community; a story of rabbinic leaders devoting more energy to keeping
the story out of the public eye than making sure the perpetrator doesn't
strike again; a story of victims feeling not only uncared for but feeling
victimized over and over by not having what was done to them publicly
acknowledged, by having to watch as their perpetrators walk around the community.
It is a story of too many Jews not wanting to believe something like this
could happen among Jews by Jews, a story of how their disbelief has allowed
it to keep happening.

It is a story that goes back more than 30 years and
a story that until very recently was continuing to go on, destroying lives.

It is not a very pretty story, but it is a story that
is resulting in, if not a happy, at least, a productive, constructive ending.
In the shameful silence coming to an end. In positive steps being taken.
In a community coming face to face with reality and giving a face to all
those who have suffered in silence and searing pain.

And that is thanks to the work of two very determined,
very courageous, very caring women, women who would not just pretend it wasn't
happening, wouldn't just sit back when others were doing nothing, wouldn't
let ignorance or fear of shame be an answer. Two women who pushed and pushed
community leaders to recognize and acknowledge how serious the problem was,
to understand that trying to keep it hidden was the very worst thing to do,
who understood that protecting the victims was far more important than shielding
the perpetrator, who understood that the only way to ensure there were no
future victims was not to assume the problem would disappear but to address
the problem head on.

It would be a cliché to call Debbie Hartman
and Jo Bruck women of valor. Besides that, the far more accurate description
is that they are women with guts, inspiring women who saw ignorance and
indifference and wrong all around them and who wouldn't give up until people
starting caring, started acting, started doing what was right.

And right needed to be done for a very long time.

The story begins more than 30 years ago, when a respected
well-known member of the Chicago's Orthodox community began sexually molesting
young girls. Most were between the ages of 5 and 12. Each thought they were
the only one. And so all kept quiet about what had happened to them.

Which is why it kept happening. Some Orthodox leaders
knew about it bust said nothing, did nothing. Most members of the community
heard the occasional whispered rumor but either didn't believe it or chose
not to believe it.

And because each of the victims thought they were the
only ones, they said nothing, in most cases blaming themselves, figuring
they had done something wrong for this to happen to them.

It was about seven years ago that a community lecture
on sexual abuse was canceled because it was decided it was "not relevant
for the frume community." When Bruck was told that by the event organizer,
she said, "oh yes, it is." Hartman and Bruck, who are sisters, had a family
member who was a victim of abuse.

Over lunch shortly after, Hartman mentioned the incident
to the women she was with and said that, in fact, there was someone in the
community who had abused young girls. "One of the women go very upset and
said 'you must tell me who it is, you must tell me right now'. And then she
told us that he done the same to her more than 20 years before."
Then, Hartman said, word began circulating in her shul
that a child had also been victimized by the man, a kosher butcher. "I asked
her parents if that was true," said Hartman, "and they said it was."

It was with that that Hartman began "shaking things
up, talking about this, saying something had to be done." Once it became
known she was talking about it, Hartman said she got calls from others who
had also been victimized.

"I wasn't out looking for this and this in not something
people want to share. But they had kept it buried for so long and when they
found out they weren't alone, they needed to open up."

Indeed, Hartman tells of one woman who had been victimized
when she was five years old "and hadn't told a soul until she told me, when
she was thirty something. She had been festering inside of her for all those
years and when she finally opened up the gates, it was like a flood of emotions."

Hartman isn't sure why this woman and others opened
up to her. She is sure, however, why she listened and responded.

"One of my family members was hurt in a way they should
not have been hurt and didn't tell anyone for a very long time. They didn't
know how. No one should have to feel such pain, humiliation and degradation.
No one should have to wait 30 years to be helped."

What made sure Hartman would begin a crusade to see
that help was there, was when she was talking to a woman in shul who had
just moved to Chicago from out of town and learned that the family was
temporarily staying in the house of the perpetrator.

"I told her she needed to know that while the wife
was nice, she had to be very careful about the husband. I thought she might
get mad at me, tell me to mind my own business. Instead, she thanked me and
said 'I couldn't understand why he kept taking my daughter down to the van
with him.' The woman came back a few minutes later and thanked me again.

"Needless to say they quickly moved out of that house.
The truth is I was sick to my stomach having to tell her that, but I knew
somebody had to say something'.

And do something about this man who had been molesting
young girls in the community for more than 25 years.

Problem is no one was doing anything about it. Hartman
and Bruck asked a therapist they knew to go to the community's leading rabbis
and urge them to do something about the perpetrator. After much urging and
pushing, the rabbis did finally call the man in. He admitted to having abused
the young girls and promised to stop. Shocked that he so readily confessed,
the rabbis told him to get counseling and instituted some minor restrictions
on his activities.

And that was that.

But that was not enough.

"You would see him at public events," said Hartman.
"In fact, I was there when he came up to get his ticket and one of his victims
was working behind the desk. She sees him and starts shaking, shaking and
he's fine, he's having a life."

And so Hartman and her sister went back to the rabbis
and pushed more, pushed to have the rabbis "come up with more stringent rules
and regulations on what he could and couldn't do. That he shouldn't be allowed
to go to a bar mitzvah, weddings, any social events. So they finally did
that. But other things that should have been done were not done. It was a
year before his own family was told. Meanwhile, his oldest daughters were
in outreach and would bring home girls and girls and girls every Shabbos.
When what he had done became known in the community, his youngest daughter
was still living in the house with him. She should have been in counseling,
but he wouldn't allow it. Who the hell is he not to allow it? But nobody
did anything about it."

The problem, says Hartman, was that this was an area
that the community's leading rabbis were simply not prepared to handle properly.

"They're not educated in this. Which is understandable.
When they were in school, no one ever sat down with them and said: some day
you're going to have to deal with sexual molestation and abuse."

Hartman doesn't blame them for not knowing, but she
does blame them for not trying to know, for the community's rabbis not coming
together and sitting down and figuring out how to deal with this.

They didn't do that, says Bruck, "because they don't
want any part of it. They don't want to believe this happens. And so even
when it was shown that it does happen, they say it was an isolated incident,
that Jewish men don't behave like this, that it will not happen again."
But does. And it has.

Indeed, it was just in the last couple of months that
it was discovered a teacher at one of Chicago's Orthodox day schools, a rabbi,
had been sexually molesting students, mostly boys.

According to Marjorie Newman, a spokesman for the
Department of Children and Family Services, their investigation found that
at least nine students at the school, 8 boys and one girl, ages 10 to 14,
were abused.

And there may be more. "We know it wasn't just this
year," said Bruck. "He has taught there for many years. He also gave bar-mitzvah
lessons. One incident is bad enough", said Bruck, "but this is unbelievable."

When they learned of this second, current incidence
of a respected community member sexually molesting children, Hartman and
Bruck were determined things would be handled differently than they were
seven years ago.

"When we came to them so many years ago, it would have
been nice if they had gotten together and put into effect some sort of program,
some sort of mechanism but they were not willing to do it," said Hartman.
"If they had, maybe what has happened wouldn't have, maybe one of these young
men would have spoken up and said 'my rebbe is doing something that is wrong'
and it would have been stopped earlier. They would have had a place to go,
know there would be someone who would do something."

But because nothing was done then, Hartman and Bruck
were adamant something be done now.

Incredibly, however, at first, they got basically the
same kind of response this time as they had last time from virtually all
the rabbis in the Orthodox community.

"We went to several rabbis and nobody would step up
and do anything," said Hartman.

"We approached every rav," adds Bruck. "They weren't
surprised about it, they all knew about it and they all said 'no thanks,
we don't want any involvement.' They were not interested in dealing with
it."

Which convinced the two sisters they had to go and
talk to the community's leading halachic authority.

But wanting to make sure all aspects of the issue would
be covered by those better versed in the area than they are, Hartman and
Bruck asked a prominent rabbi, an Orthodox attorney and an Orthodox
psychotherapist to go with them.

"They each said they'd let us know. But we never heard
back from any of them. So we went ourselves."

"I told him I was not happy he didn't not get involved
seven years ago and that he had to be involved this time," says Hartman.
"I did not speak meekly but was adamant to get my point across. We explained
to him, from a to z, how others had been victimized because things had not
been put into place. He said he didn't know how to deal with it and we explained
that wasn't an answer." And so Bruck and Harman spent hours explaining that
pedophilia is a disease, explaining why it was so important the community
be alerted that this goes on and had been going on, explaining the pain it
causes its victims. They begged this rabbi to learn more, to do more. He
said he would.

And, indeed, Hartman and Bruck are pleased that four
rabbis, Rabbi Zev Cohen of Congregation Adas Yehurun, Rabbi Gedaliah Schwarts
of the Chicago Rabbinical Council, Rabbi Shmuel Fuerst of Agudath Israel
of Illinois, and Rabbi Avrohom Levin of Telshe Yeshiva have agreed to serve
as the rabbinical advisory board of Project Shield, a new effort to more
systematically deal with the issue of sexual abuse (see separate story).

Rabbi Cohen defends how the community's rabbis have
dealt with the current perpetrator, saying he and three other rabbis have
spent more than 300 hours on the case, forming a Beit Din to protect the
victims by "confronting the perpetrator, making sure he was in counseling
and issuing stringent guidelines to prevent any interactions with young boys."
He says the community should be proud of the "incredible amount of work that
has been done to help the victims and their parents and ensure there are
no future victims."

Rabbi Cohen adds that the community's rabbis should
not be criticized in this instance and says that "if rabbis are not seen
as strong in the eyes of the community, they don't have the ability to do
anything and that doesn't benefit anyone."

Hartman and Bruck agree that Rabbi Cohen has been the
most responsive rabbi in the community about this matter but not that not
one rabbi, not even Cohen, has spoken from the pulpit about the issue. And
that while he, and Rabbis Levin, Schwartz, and Fuerst are trying to deal
with the issue, the vast majority of Orthodox rabbis continue to do nothing.
"Our goal is to get the rabbis to work with us on this,
not to read this article and get all upset," said Hartman. "Yes, a few rabbis
have tried to do good and that's a big step and we are grateful, but we need
more, we need a majority to get involved to protect our children.

"Some rabbis say they don't like the line that their
attitude about this has been 'don't ask don't tell.' Well, I'm sorry but
that has been the majority of the rabbinical response."

And because that has been so, the rabbis have failed
to let the community know about the issue.

"Why wasn't the community alerted about this school
rebbe from the pulpit so that parents could take the necessary precautions?"
asks Hartman. "Why haven't rabbis gotten up in shul and said something?"

Indeed, Bruck confronted one rabbi and said, "you're
the rabbi of a shul. Have you gotten up there and said anything to anyone?
He said 'what do you want me to say?' I used to go to his shul and he would
talk about Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas, talk about O.J. Simpson. I said
to him you can talk about it with your children. So he said to me, 'I'm up
for suggestions. Please."

While Hartman is pleased that the four rabbis have
joined her efforts, she notes that they still have not sat down together
as a group and talked about a plan of action. "And I understand that they
are very busy and have a lot of immediate things to deal with. But you can't
wait until something else happens. We need the rabbis to be pro-active, to
react now and plan now. We can't wait for later, we must prevent there from
being a later."

She notes that one rabbi has said that because it happened
in her family, she is over reacting to the situation. "No, I've under-reacted,
I waited too long to do something, I should have done more seven years ago.
The rabbis are talking now about the dangers of the Internet. Well they also
need to talk and educate about this danger."

While Hartman is hopeful they will, some still have
their doubts. A therapist involved in the issue says that she put together
a bunch of materials about child sexual abuse for the community's leading
halachic authority to read and brought it to his house. "He said that he
didn't want the material and that the guy is not going to do it again because
he's a frum man."
Brucks notes the same kind of silence has happened
not only in the school where the incidents occurred but in all the Orthodox
days schools. "They don't have a clue. Every school and every principal was
called and asked if someone could come in and talk to the parents, to the
teachers, to the students; and every single one said no, said they felt no
one was talking about it and to do so would be to open up a Pandora's box.

"Even more amazing, they haven't even talked to the
class whose members were molested."

Why? First and foremost, they don't want it getting
out into the public world. The last thing they want is that people should
know it happens in the frum community. Then there's the fact that people
don't want to believe it happens. There are still lots of people who don't
believe what the first perpetrator did is true or they say it's "lashon hara"
(gossip) to talk about it. It's not an issue anyone wants to get involved
with, it's easier to say it's a rumor, nobody can prove it. And so they just
deny it."

The problem with the rabbis not publicly acknowledging
what has occurred, says Hartman, is that it aids the feeling of "most people
who don't believe the perpetrator is guilty. After all, up until this point
he has been a respected person, unless you have the facts. But the facts
are supposed to be kept confidential to protect the victims and since no
one wants to come out and say, 'yes I was sexually abused and this is exactly
what happened to me.' You don't have the facts and so it is dismissed as
hearsay. Those in the community who know the perpetrator, say they've never
been molested so it's probably not true. That's the point. These perpetrators
lead a double life so why believe this blind information when I know this
guy, he's a nice frum man in our community?"

And so the perpetrator gets away with his crime and
the victims pay even more.

Indeed, the Department of Children and Family Services
began its investigation because one of the boys molested at the school called
their hotline to file charges against the rabbi and, says Hartman, "this
kid is being persecuted. Kids in that class love their rebbe and so this
victim is being penalized for pressing charges, his life is being made a
living hell."

Beyond that, the rabbi is being protected to see that
he stays out of jail and his story kept out of the newspapers.

Why are the rabbis working so hard to make sure he
doesn't stand trial, let alone go to jail? "Because it didn't happen to their
kids," said Bruck, "it's as simple as that."

The perpetrator's attorney, Hal Garfinkel, refused
to comment on any aspect of the case when called by the Chicago Jewish News.

Hartman says that the community's fear of the story
being public is putting the concern very much on the wrong thing. "I brought
one of the victims, now grown up, to the office of one of the rabbis and
he said he felt such rage he wanted to murder the perpetrator. The parents
of another victim told the rabbi they wanted to kill the man.

"When a victim voices these raw emotions, the rabbis
should be shaking in their boots. But they did nothing, all they were focused
on was keeping it out of the papers and the perpetrators out of jail. I finally
said, 'are you guys waiting for someone to actually shoot the perpetrator?
How are you going to hide that from the newspapers?"

To not acknowledge what has gone on, says Bruck, "you
destroy victims' lives over and over. Think about those who have poured their
hearts out--and yet who see nothing being done about it, who walk through
the community and there the perpetrator is, go to the pizza shop and there
he is, so they are victimized over and over again and the rabbinic reaction
is nothing. The victims continue to be pained that it is not being publicly
acknowledged that what the perpetrator did was wrong. Meanwhile, the perpetrator,
whose life isn't easy, but still he's managing to go to shul, his life goes
on, people want to help his family."

Not that there shouldn't be compassion for his family,
says Hartman, who calls them victims, too. "I know his wife, she's a very
find young woman. Her life is over, her life is hell and will be forever,
whether she stays with him or not. He destroyed lots of lives and you have
to have sympathy for that. They have eight children. No one knows what goes
on behind her closed doors, but I can guarantee, it ain't a pretty site and
my heart goes out to her. She and her children are big victims in this."

But, says Harman, first and foremost there are the
victims this rabbi sexually abused. She calls them "the faceless victims."

"In the case of his family, the community knows who
the victims are and so they want to do for them. But everyone seems to be
forgetting the faceless victims, these innocent children who nobody knows,
who are being left out to hang, to live with this pain the rest of their
lives."

Which is why Hartman and Bruck believe it is so important
people talk about this, know about it, that people let their rabbis know
they expect them to act.

"I think it's pretty pathetic that the rabbis can't
work together to protect our innocent children," says Hartman. She notes
that the hot issue at the moment in Orthodox circles is something being labeled
'Children at Risk', referring to the increasing number of Orthodox youth
who are leaving the community, often getting into drugs and other destructive
behaviors.

"You have all the rabbis speaking from the pulpit about
'children at risk. I think if someone did a little research to see how many
of those children were sexually molested, it might be a pretty eye-opening
experience. Children do not come from nice home and become so deep rooted
in anger and frustration and so self-destructive unless something pretty
horrible has happened to them .

"Everybody talks about the children, the children,
being there for the children, well then when a child or their parent comes
to you and say someone has really hurt my child, then do something about
it. It's very nice to preach about 'children at risk' but helping children
who are victims of sexual abuse is at the core and nobody is responding to
it."

And there is no excuse for that, says Bruck. "This
happens everywhere, in every community. It doesn't happen more in the Orthodox
community, actually it probably happens less, but it does happen."

Which is why Hartman and Bruck are doing what they're
doing, saying what they're saying, because the truth is they wish they didn't
have to.

"There is no question some will be unhappy this is
being talked about publicly," says Bruck, "but it's either say nothing or
say and do something to make things better. People don't want us to talk
about it., but that's the only way something gets done."

This is something that goes to the heart of what all
of us are supposed to be all about," adds Hartman. "Never in a million years
did we think we'd be sitting here talking about this. I am part of this
community. Every person in my family has dedicated themselves to being a
responsible member of the community and to making it a better community.
It is not our desire to tear it apart in any way, shape or form. Our goal
is to unite it and make it better.
"Maybe 25 years ago, this kind of thing wasn't discussed.
But we discuss it now. This is not going to disappear, not going to go away
by itself. So you have to be ready to deal with it."
And you start to do that, she says, by "putting a face
on it. We have to give it legitimacy, make it a reality, get our leaders
and the community to take it seriously. We need the rabbis to sit down and
get educated about it, understand the irreparable damage these perpetrators
do to their victims.
"People want to believe they can trust their spiritual
leaders to deal with this problem, but if nothing is done, this is a bomb
waiting to explode in everyone's face."
_______________________________________________________________________________

Loud and Clear: Community must speak
up to protect children
By Pauline Dubkin Yearwood - Managing Editor
Chicago Jewish Times - March 3-9, 2000

"It needs to be opened up. Like cleaning out a boil,
you have to open it up before you can treat the underlying problem," he
says.

His words echo those of every expert contacted for
this article.

Among them are David Mandel, chief executive officer
of OHEL Children's Home and Family Services, a New York-area social service
agency. For the last two years, he has been studying the and publicizing
the problem of child sexual abuse in the Orthodox community, and has written
five articles on the subject for the New York-based Jewish Press
newspaper.

In one he writes "...it's not likely that you're going
to find any Orthodox offenders on this list (of sex offenders required to
register under a federal provision known as Megan's Law). By and large, these
people haven't been forced to go through the judicial system because the
victims' parents are fearful that their child will be traumatized, that shame
will be brought to their family or that this will cause difficulty with future
shidduchm (marriages).

"The system does work. Our frum community has not been
using the system," he concludes.

(Mandel and other experts emphasized that child sexual
abuse does not occur more frequently in the Orthodox community than among
other groups, only that people in the Orthodox community, and other strongly
religious communities, are not as likely to bring the problem out into the
open.)

Bloom, of the Jewish Children's Bureau, has worked
with child victims of sexual abuse, both in the Jewish and non-Jewish
communities, for more than 20 years. The agency worked with some of the children
involved in the Hillel Torah abuse case. He believes that there is a fundamental
misunderstanding among many about what is required in terms of reporting
a suspected perpetrator (for reporting him to the authorities)."

That is not the case, he says, even if the allegations
later turn out to be unfounded. In fact, Bloom says, the law requires people
to cal authorities anytime there is a suspicion of child abuse or sexual
molestation. Those authorities will then investigate and determine if the
allegations are true.

"People are afraid they might get sued if they report
a person who later turns out to be innocent," he says. "They want to wait
and be sure. But the law is real clear -- you're not supposed to be sure.
You must have to be suspicious."

The only way an accused abuser could sue someone who
reported him is if he could prove it was done with malicious intent, says
Bloom.

"It doesn't matter if you were wrong, if they were
on the planet Mars (when the abuse occurred)," Bloom says. "they have no
legal standing to sue you because it turned out they were innocent."

In fact, he says, it is more likely that the victims
of abuse and their families would sue an individual or institution who knew
the abuse was going on and did nothing to stop it.
Reporting suspected abuse to the Illinois hotline is
not only a legal requirement, he says, but "it makes things a whole lot simpler
and gets everybody off the hot spot. You've reported it and the state then
carries the burden of what must be done next."

Parents must work with the authorities in deciding
whether to press charges against an abuser, he says, adding that the decision
is a complex one.

"Putting children through the legal process can be
very painful. Some think they are being reabuse," he says.

However, he adds, "People who abuse children must be
held accountable. They need help, and children must be protected from
them."

Bloom says the reporting requirement is crucial because
in all settings, child sexual abuse thrives on secrecy.

"Almost all kids who are abused are in their homes
or among family or friends," he says. "It's (generally) not strangers who
hurt kids.

"It happens in all walks of life," he adds. "I don't
see any difference in the percentage of sexual abuse in the Jewish community
(and other communities). We are NOT protected by our faith or our social
status."

The Children and Adolescent Institute of the Jewish
Children's Bureau has published a pamphlet. "Child Abuse and Neglect: A
Responsibility of the Jewish Community," that deal with these and other
issues.

Dr. Jerry Lob echoed many of the same themes as Bloom
when he was called to speak to Hillel Torah parents and teachers shortly
after allegations of sexual abuse at the school surfaced.

Lob, a clinical psychologist and Orthodox Jew, says
that at a time of great turmoil in the school community, he tried to give
parents a sense of what their children -- both those who were victims of
abuse and those who simply knew others who were -- might be feeling.

"This was a teacher, someone who was in a position
of trust," he says. "The children would feel a betrayal of trust. It wouldn't
be easy for them to trust again, even if they just heard that it had happened
to someone else.

"It was also a betrayal of love, because this was a
teacher that was very beloved. That turns their whole world upside
down."

Children might be likely to feel "guilt and shame,
a sense of isolation, powerlessness and fear. And because they live in a
religious environment, they might feel angry at G-d," he says. Because the
accused figure was a rabbi, that brought the G-d equation into it in a stronger
way.

"We talked about that a lot (in meetings with parents),"
he says. "I told them to blow their children to voice that anger. I'm a firm
believer that G-d can tolerate our anger."

In talking with parents, Lob stressed the importance
of not placing any blame on children who come forward and tell of their
experiences. "There was a fear that the children who came forward and tell
of their experiences. "There was a fear that the children who came would
be blamed by the other children," he says. He told parents to convey to their
children that "it is heroic of children to come forward. It is the right
thing to do."

He urged parents whose children might have been abused
to seek therapy for them and to avoid sending them any messages of blame,
such as, "Why didn't you tell How could you not know what was going on?"
He also warned parents, "Don't make light of it."

After he spoke, and for weeks afterwards, he received
numerous phone calls from parents of current students and from Hillel Torah
graduates and their parents, some as far away as Israel.

He praises the "very professional" way the matter was
handled by Hillel Torah. "There was no sense of sweeping anything under the
rug," he says "I got a lot of positive feedback from parents about the way
the school handled it."

Lobe says he believes the community needs more education
in such matters and hopes to be involved in planning community-wide lectures
and forums.

"There is a great deal of shame when something like
this happens in the Orthodox community," he says. "We try to hold ourselves
up to a higher standard. Then a thing like this happens. But every community
has this, and it is important for us to realize we're not perfect, to look
at our own weaknesses. This kind of exploded the issue in a healthy
way."
Mandel, the head of the New York social service agency
told the Chicago Jewish News that he "has heard the same story" of child
molestation in the Jewish community in cities from Brooklyn, to Los Angeles
and many points in between.

Even though the instances of molestation may not be
frequent, they involve many members of the community because "one perpetrator
can affect dozens, hundreds, in extreme cases even thousands of kids," he
says.

Mandel says he has found that everywhere, "segments
of the community band together to protect the perpetrator. Other segments
are trying very hard to ensure that the molester is prosecuted and to ensure
that other children in the community are not hurt. Too often, these segments
are at cross-purposes, and so the pain continues."

Also he says, parents are often reluctant to come forward
and report abuse for a number of reasons, including their fear that "the
child's pain will continue during the investigation and prosecution; the
neighbors whispering; and wondering, will this affect my child's shidduchs
(marriages)?

"Put all these things together and you have a complex
situation that has so far enabled perpetrators to win, to beat the
odds."

In this article the Jewish Press, Mandel tells parents
and others in the Jewish community that "you need to make your voice heard."
He writes, "Our collective action to ensure that our voices are heard loud
and clear may not put a child molester in jail but we could at least ensure
he doesn't live on our block, daven (pray) in our shul, teach our children
or be our neighborhood grocer. . . Yes, this can be done, it is possible

Doing the Right Thing: Day School Moved Quickly to
Deal with Perpetrator
By Pauline Dubkin Yearwood - Managing Editor
Chicago Jewish News - March 3-9, 2000

Rabbi Yaakov Dvorin, principal of Hillel Torah North
Suburban Day School in Skokie, says he kept one thought in mind throughout
the tumultuous period when it was discovered that a teacher at the school
had sexually molested students.

That thought was: "The concern and safety of our kids
is number one, and it will not be compromised. Everything else is
secondary."

He held fast to that notion even when members of the
Orthodox rabbinic community suggested that he keep the matter quiet and do
more to protect the perpetrator.

Dvorin says that now, close to four months later, he
and Hillel Torah have come through trail by fire and "are able to get back
to the business of running a school."

It's very quiet now," he says. Obviously, he likes
it that way.

The educator says he was taken completely by surprise
on a Friday in November when he received a call from the Illinois Department
of Children and Family Services informing him that a teacher, a rabbi, was
suspected of sexually abusing boys at the school.

Dvorin had been at the Skokie day school for just four
years, two as assistant principal and two as principal. He knew the teacher
as an enormously popular and beloved faculty member who had been at the school
for about 14 years. He taught Jewish Studies, Talmud and Jewish law to 5th
and 8th grade students.

Dvorin says he had never heard about any problems in
the teachers' past, either from personnel from other schools or from his
predecessor, former Hillel Torah principal Rabbi Avram Skurowitz, who now
lives on the East Coast. The teacher was "very well thought of," Dvorin
says.

Though not at a yeshiva in Albany Park. Several individuals
who wished to remain anonymous, have told the Chicago Jewish News that the
teacher has been fired or been forced to resign from the yeshiva because
he sexually abused high school students there. The teacher was a rebbe at
the yeshiva from 1977 to 1984.

The yeshiva, however, did not warn Hillel Torah or
any other Chicago day school about what the teacher had done. According to
sources, they didn't want to jeopardize his ability to find employment and
support his family.

"Schools are living in the dark ages" as far as informing
other schools about such matters, Dvorin says.

When he first heard of the charges, Dvorin says that
even though DCFS didn't give him any details, his first thought was to get
the teacher out the classroom. On that day, that wasn't a problem because
the teacher had no class periods with students left. Dvorin called and made
arrangements for a substitute to take over his classes for the next few days.
The teacher never taught another class at that school.

The next week, as more details about the extent of
the abuse emerged, Dvorin called the teacher in to his office and the teacher
resigned. Dvorin says he neither confessed to the abuse nor denied it, speaking
little on the advice of his attorney. Dvorin did impress on him that he should
get professional help.

Meanwhile, DCFS began conducting an investigation into
the incidents. Dvorin says the school cooperated fully with the agency, providing
them with the names, addresses and phone numbers of all the families whose
children were in classes taught by the Rabbi, as well as of former students
of his.

Abiding by the mutual decision that interviewing children
at the school would be too disruptive, DCFS called children and parents to
be interviewed at the Bernard Horwich Jewish Community Center in Chicago.
Dvorin says he told parents that he would sit in on the interviews if it
would make them and their children feel more comfortable.

A number of parents requested that he do so.

He says he did not give any parents advice on whether
to press charges, but suggested that they discuss that within the family
and with an attorney.

At the same time, Dvorin and his staff took a series
of steps to ensure that the matter was brought out in the open for parents,
other teachers and students (the matter was not discussed with the youngest
children in the school). Psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers,
both from within and outside the school, spoke to each group and answered
questions.

Dvorin and a trusted female staff member spoke to each
class the rabbi had taught, Dvorin speaking to the boys and the female staff
member to the girls. There were many questions and rumors, he says.

What made the matter even more difficult, according
to Dvorin, was that the teacher was very popular and well-liked by students.
"There was a sense of betrayal, " he says. "There was disbelief and anger
-- 'how could we be duped like this?'"

Dvorin told parents that they should feel free to discuss
the matter with him, and many did. The incidents, he knew were a prime subject
for "kiddish talk and bakery talk" in the Orthodox community. For three or
four weeks, he says "I was deluged by calls and visits. It was a major, major
distraction for the school."

He also received some other, not so welcome, calls.
These were from Orthodox rabbis and community leaders who, Dvorin says,
"suggested that we do what we can to protect the perpetrator.

"They said, "keep it quiet,"' he says. "I was absolutely
appalled."

He believes that the reaction of these leaders taps
into the "shandah" factor (the belief that when one Jew is found to have
done something wrong, it reflects badly on all Jews) and is also based on
a fundamental lack of understanding of the issues involved.

"If a child, G-d forbid, is beaten, he shows scars,"
Dvorin says. '"With this, the child doesn't necessarily show outward scars.
So some people don't understand the long-term effects. They don't see the
inward scars, the betrayal. Until you see it, grasp it, you can't
imagine."

He believes that "what's worse than the sexual abuse
are the people who support and protect the perpetrators, who make alibis
and look the other way."

The community leaders, he says, did not so much attempt
to put pressure on him and the school as to offer him "advice." They could
not advise him to keep the teacher at the school because he had already left
by the time they called, but, he says, they did ask him to keep the issue
quiet was applied by the ultra-Orthodox community's leading halachic
authority.

On the other hand, two high-profile rabbis, Dvorin
says, were extremely supportive of his efforts. Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz
of the Chicago Rabbinical Council "fully fathoms the issue," he says. "I'm
not sure everyone has his depth of knowledge of it."

He also praises the efforts of Rabbi Harvey Well,
superintendent of Associated Talmud Torah, the agency that oversees Chicago-area
Orthodox day schools. Well contacted all the other schools in the system
to let them know what had happened. Dvorin had already contacted the principal
of another school who , he knew, was looking to hire a teacher to make sure
he would not consider hiring the abuser.

Because of all these efforts, Dvorin says, "we can
keep our heads up. We did not close our eyes and hope it goes away. Twenty-five
years ago it was, 'don't talk about it.' Now we knew so much more."

Today, nearly four months later, "we have gotten back
to being a school again," Dvorin says. Board members and parents were all
supportive, and none took their children out of the school.

Dvorin himself says he is grateful for the support
he has received and realizes that "this could happen in any school. Any
community."

But he remains shaken. "I have a strong feeling toward
children," he says. "The child is 100 percent blameless, innocent."

As for the perpetrator, Dvorin says, The impulse to
act this way is an illness, but to act on it is criminal and 100 percent
unacceptable. Perpetrators look for excuses -- they will try to blame the
victim. But the children are blameless. I feel strongly that anyone who commits
a crime of this type should be punished to the full extent of the law."

Some members of the community have expressed unhappiness
that the teacher has been deprived of a livelihood, but Dvorin says, "I question
some of tolerance we find in the community. I feel very strongly that he
should never be around children again."

Mostly, he says, what is needed is that "our community
must become more knowledgeable."

Edwin Plotkin, a two-time past president of the school's
board and a current Hilllel Torah parent, echoes that sentiment. Dvorin "had
the board's support from start to finish," he says. "We have to remember
that just because we're Jewish doesn't mean that these things don't
happen.

"If all schools were on the same wavelength as we are,
it would be better for all the children.

Guidelines and Rules Aimed at Protecting Our Children

Jewish Image Magazine (Page 46)
Fall 2000, Tishrei 5761

The following statement was made public as a result of the
Ad Hoc Bais Din of Chicago deliberated on what to do with
the allegations made against Rabbi Tzvi Wainhaus of sexual
abused children at Hillel Torah.

Under NO Circumstances whatsoever may the perpetrator
teach in any classroom situation or any private or tutorial
situation with any students, nor may he enter any school
building at any time under any circumstances. Included in
school buildings are any kollel buildings (adult learning
center) that are open during non-school hours, such as
during the summer, all school holidays, as well as Sundays
and after school hours.

He may not go to any mikvah (ritual bath) anywhere in the
world at any time, including erev Shabbos, Erev Yom Tov,
erev Rosh Hashanah and erev Yom HaKipurim.

He may not go to any J.C.C. (Jewish Community Center) or
any swimming facility anywhere at any time.

He many not use the restroom in any synagogue, yeshiva,
kollel, or any other Jewish facility at any time, even if this
will force him to miss davening (praying) or krias HaTorah
or learning. The only exception is during the times that it is
permissible to be in a kollel as enumerated above. During
those times, and those times only, it is permissible for him
to use the restroom.

No children, even his own, are allowed in his house at any
time while he is present until the ad hoc bais din is advised
to the contrary by his therapist.

He may not attend any simchas (celebrations), including
weddings, bar mitzvahs, bas mitzvahs, kiddushim, brissim,
vorts (lectures), banquets, or any other simcha anywhere or
any time until the ad hoc bais din is advised to the contrary
by his therapist.

He must be engaged in regularly scheduled uninterrupted
intensive therapy with a therapist with whom the bais din
is advised to the contrary by his therapist.

The Bais Din (Jewish Court), after much deliberation, and
taking into consideration his health problems, will allow
him to daven in different area shuls on Shabbos, even
though there are children present, with the understanding
that every Rav (Rabbi) will be made aware of his name, and
to make sure that there is surveillance whenever he leaves
the sanctuary to use the restrooms or any other area of the
building. Any Rabbi not wishing to take on this
responsibility has the right to prohibit him from davening
(praying) in their shul.
Rabbi Gedaliah Dov Schwartz,
Rabbi Avraham Chaim Levin,
Rabbi Shmuel Furest,
Rabbi Zev Cohen

Comment from a parentJewish Survivors of Sexual Abuse Speak Out Blog - June 12, 2007

Just stumbled on this site and what surprises!I heartily agree with the
comments that the Vaad has done nothing to support the victims of sexual
abuse. My son was one of the many abused by Tzvi Wainhaus.

Shmuel
Furest did NOTHING. Quite the contrary. We were actually called to come
to his office- which we did- at the height of the IL DCFS
investigations. Did he call to see how he could support our son? Of
course not! Imagine my shock when he actually had the audacity to ask us
to 'Keep Quiet' and not say anything to the newspapers, or press
charges! After all 'what a shonda in front of the goyim, and the poor
man (Wainhaus) feels horribly, and he has a family'. Unbelievable. To
this day, 7 years later this is still something that brings rage and
anger to the core of my being and tears to my eyes. Literally and
Always. And to see that post that Jamie Dvorin cares so much about
protecting the kids- I want to scream in rage: the lies! He not only
told me to send my son out of town for high school ('for his own good')
he also tried to prevent him from joining his class at ICJA. Of course I
refused to send my son away. Would he have sent his 13 year old child
away after being sexually abused by his favorite teacher? Away from his
family? When his entire world came crashing down? Mr. Dvorin also made
up a vicious lie about how the teachers didn't think my son should go
with his class on his senior trip. When I called every teacher of my
child I caught his right in his lie- HE didn't want my son to go. My
son was an excellent student with no history of any behavior issues.
Prior to being a victim there was no reason to assume he wouldn’t go on
his senior trip, or go to ICJA. Dvorin also called ICJA to prevent my
son from getting accepted there. Jamie said the problem was that he was a
'high risk child' – why? because one of HIS teachers abused him. He
never accepted any responsibility- nor has Mr. Fuerst or the orthodox
community. The only rabbi that behaved with any kindness or degree of
menschkiet was Rabbi Harvey Well. The rest are filthy hypocrites and
evil men. They can pretend to hide behind their mitzvot but there is no
number of mitzvot they could possibly perform to erase the evil they
have perpetrated. They may have avoided the court in this world but
they will have their day in the heavenly court one day and there justice
will be served.

Some of the information on The Awareness Center, Inc.'s web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Subscribe to The Awareness Center's Newsletter

Translate

Survivors ARE Heroes!

The Awareness Center believes ALL survivors of sex crimes should be given yellow ribbons to wear proudly.

Survivors of sexual violence (as adults and/or as a child) are just as deserving of a yellow ribbon as the men and women of our armed forces, who have been held captive as hostages or prisoners of war.

Survivors of sexual violence have been forced to learn how to survive, being held captive not by foreigners, but mostly by their own family members, teachers, camp counselors, coaches babysitters, rabbis, cantors or other trusted authority figures.

For these reasons ALL survivors of sexual violence should be seen as heroes!